The Monolith of America

I had something to say, so I said it. Technically this piece is garbage, I know, but it's the content that's important.
I wrote it for an English essay for which we were required to make citations and a work cited page. I did not include this simply because I did not want to.

You should have seen my class-mates faces when I read it aloud! Hahaha! My community is super conservative - they were SO uncomfortable!

Submitted:Apr 23, 2008
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How can you not accept someone just because they love someone
of the same gender? I'm not going to dance around it;
homophobia is one of my biggest pet-peeves. We "live in a
culture in which homosexuality is considered maladaptive and
opprobrious" (Cornett). Some people treat homosexuals as though
they have something wrong with them, as though they're a
threat. This of course is absurd. But it's not so much the fear
(which I'll get to later) but the sheer ignorance that really
bothers me. Love is love. Why aren't people able to accept
that?

They say that ignorance is bliss, but from the other end it's
extremely frustrating! People get so stuck on
themselves that they're not willing to even listen to other
peoples opinions that might contradict their own. I bet that
most of the people reading this are already disagreeing with me
that homosexuality is perfectly acceptable. "The vehement
belief that homosexuality is a form of emotional illness is
predominantly an American phenomenon" (Cornett). In places such
as Europe homosexuality is commonplace and nothing to get upset
about. Unfortunately, here in America, that is not the case.
Here it is frowned upon by society. Why? Why can't two people
in love simply be in love? Why should their gender
matter?

Why do people care so much if someone's homosexual? If someone
doesn't like the same music as you do you shun them? No. You
get over it and accept them anyway because, hey, they're still
a great person. According to statistics only thirty-nine out of
sixty people surveyed knew someone who was gay in 2003
("Opinions on Gay Marriage"). Most Americans are so closed
minded that if they ever did meet a homosexual they would
immediately stereotype them and disassociate themselves with
that person. Stop swimming in pools of your own ignorance! The
world is pretty big. In it you're going to meet a lot of
different people, and some of them will happen to be
homosexual. You might have to work with a homosexual,
or maybe even marry someone who's related to a
homosexual. You're unavoidably going to have to encounter and
interact with homosexuals in your life. Face it, you're going
to have to grow up and get over your homophobia at some point
or another.

Some people have religious reasons for homophobia. I'm not
particularly religious so I won't say much about it. I don't
know the depth or reasoning for such beliefs and I don't want
to make any assumptions (they say that 'when you assume you
make an ass out of you and me'). All I want to ask is why
wouldn't the Lord want us to accept all people or respect two
peoples love for each other?

Homophobia is not only ignorant; it's irrational. What are you
afraid of? Actually I know what you're afraid of, and it's
absolutely ridiculous! "It's all too easy for society . . . to
assume that same-sex relationships are only sexual" (Wedgwood).
That could not be further from fact. Are you only in a
relationship for one thing? And it's not like homosexuals are
going to try have relations with everyone just because they're
homosexual. You don't go around trying to hook-up with everyone
just because you're heterosexual. That's just not what people
do.

People also just plainly fear change. It is a "fear of what
might happen if traditional values are replaced by values (we)
do not understand" (Cornett). People simply feel threatened by
people opposing them in any way. People create a little
safety-bubble to live in and anything outside of that barrier
is wrong. That bubble is impenetrable to new ideals, and it can
only be popped from the inside. I hate to burst your bubble,
but I think it's time to.

"Same-sex relationships should be taken just as seriously as
heterosexual relationships" (Wedgwood). They're people like
everyone else and they know when they want to spend the rest of
their lives with someone else. "Real love isn't ambivalent"
(Kushner 102). Everybody, heterosexuals and homosexuals alike,
know when they're in love. It's not something you can mistake and
it's not something that's going to go away. Homosexual couples
love each other and are just as committed as any heterosexual
couple. "They have a relationship of the same general kind that
society expects of married couples" (Wedgwood) and yet we deny
them the right to be married. Domestic partnerships and
commitment ceremonies are not marriage. "For society at large,
domestic partnerships and commitment ceremonies are less familiar
than marriage" (Wedgwood). It's not enough just to label
something as a serious relationship. There has to be legal
foundation for society to take a relationship seriously. You can
call it whatever you want, but you know you're not going to
regard them as 'together' when a same-sex couple tells you that
they're life-partners.

Denying their right to marry is like saying that homosexuality is
inferior to heterosexuality. People feel that "it seems to
install homosexual relations as equal in value to heterosexual
ones" (Wedgwood). But of course "without marriage, (they) remain
second-class citizens" (Wedgwood). And that's how society regards
them, whether people are conscious of it or not. This is because
most of society doesn't understand it. People act like it's
unacceptable just because it's not the majority. But I suppose
that that's just the way society functions. "There's the monolith
of White America. White Straight Male America" (Kushner 96). And
therein lies the problem. Majorities control the way people think
and feel. We divide ourselves into groups, into clicks and
coteries, and everyone outside of that safety-zone is wrong.
Unfortunately the biggest, most popular group holds the most
power, and that's the one everybody wants to be a part of so
they're going to let that monolith manipulate their opinions.

Seriously, come on people! It's 2007 and homosexuality is still
controversial. People need to wake up and realize that
homosexuality isn't going away. They're not going to change to
meet your comfort-level. Why should they? Also, taking away
rights isn't going to change anyone. Did you know that "a gay
person can be denied employment, housing, promotion, child
custody, health insurance and a long list of other rights and
privileges taken for granted by most other U.S. citizens" and
that they are "the only minority group in the country that cannot
be assured even of family support" (Cornett)? In most minority
groups the whole family is of the same minority. But with
homosexuality they risk losing their families just by being
themselves. Almost all of us fear loosing the support of our
families, so we can relate. Imagine having to hide your entire
life from your family because you're considered 'socially
unacceptable'. Why should anyone have to be ashamed of them
selves when they can't change? If your family didn't even back
you up, wouldn't you feel like you were inferior? I honestly
don't think that anyone should have to feel like that at any time
for any reason.

There's nothing that's going to 'eliminate' homosexuality, it
isn't some disease, "homosexuals are no more pathological than
heterosexuals" (Cornett) and there is no 'cure'. Just because you
don't like it doesn't mean it's going to be changed. There's
nothing that even needs to be changed, there's nothing wrong with
homosexuality. It's just love. It may be in a different form that
what you're used to, but it's still love.

You need to get over your petty, irrational, ignorant,
stereotypical homophobias! All homosexuals want is to be "treated
with the dignity and respect afforded to all other citizens"
(Cornett). It's not as though they're a different species. You
need to realize how much you're hurting these people just because
you don't agree with them. I ask again, why can't two people in
love be in love? I'm not saying you should change your
opinion, everyone is entitled to their own. But I am asking that
if you don't accept homosexuality, please at least respect their
right to be in love.